PIP: It has recently been posited by several researchers that a fertility transition is under way in Ghana. Such fertility decline would be the first instance on the west coast of Africa. Data from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey allows closer assessment of this earlier speculation. Review of the data suggests that earlier assertions of the existence of fertility transition were premature and hastily drawn from fragmented evidence. Little evidence exists to support any hypothesis of a fertility turnaround in ghana. The findings are, however, cautiously optimistic with some indication that continued increases in the proportion of women with some secondary education may yet induce a fertility transition in the country. The author notes the lack of individual motivation to reduce fertility in Ghana and questions the merit of continuing family planning programs in such an atmosphere. Measures to reach men in family planning messages and to expand the level of women's education are recommended. Success in reducing fertility in Kenya as a result of increasing women's education is noted.